There are many laws detailing what is kosher and what is not. In general, Jews are barred from eating non-kosher items, but benefitting from them in any other way is totally permissible. For example, there’s no problem with buying bacon bits and serving them to one’s pet. The main exception to this is mixing meat and dairy. Not only does Jewish law forbid the consumption of a meat and dairy mixture, but it is forbidden to receive benefit in any way from such a mixture. As a matter of fact, even the mixing of the two is forbidden. Why is this so? What is so problematic with this mixture that we are forbidden to even join the two together?
Before we attempt to find an answer, we must understand that the sole reason we keep kosher and all the laws of the Torah is because G-d commanded us to do so. This is the only binding factor. Whether or not we understand the reason is irrelevant. To put it in the terms of the well-known adage, if G-d says “Jump,” our response must be “How high?” Not why, or for what purpose. Even if it seems totally ludicrous to us, we must follow the commandments of G-d to the letter. With that said, however, finding and exploring possible explanations for the various commandments can be very beneficial. It helps to motivate ourselves to follow through on our performance of the commandments. Having an understanding of the laws allows us to get greater satisfaction out of performing them properly. It aids us in carrying out the commandments on a much deeper level – not only on a physical level, but on a mental and emotional level too.
Getting back to our topic at hand, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808 – 1888) has a novel understanding of the barring of the meat and milk mixture. He explains that nutrition and reproduction are the characteristic functions of the lowest level of organic life, the plant. The entire existence of the plant is the passive performance of these two functions. When we add movement and senses to these two functions, we get an animal. The animal is thus a higher form of life, but nevertheless, the abilities to move and to sense the world around itself are enslaved to the instincts of nutrition and reproduction.
The part of the animal that most closely symbolizes the functions of nutrition and reproduction is the milk. Milk is the calf’s source of nutrition and the mother’s way of sustaining her offspring. The part of the animal which most closely symbolizes the movement and senses is the meat – the muscles and flesh.
Human beings have the same abilities and functions as the animal, but there are some more abilities thrown in – the ability to reason (intellect) and the ability to have a relationship with G-d. In human beings, the abilities to move and sense, and the functions of nutrition and reproduction, must be subordinated to the intellect and the relationship that one has with G-d. We must always be careful not to let it be the other way around, that the intellect shouldn’t join the abilities of movement and sense to serve the needs of nutrition and reproduction. Therefore, we are extremely careful that the meat (symbolizing the animal abilities) and the milk (symbolizing the plant abilities) never mix. We don’t want to even come close to the concept of actions being solely motivated by the instincts of nutrition and reproduction.